fdterritory's review
4.0
I'm torn on this rating. It should probably be 3.5 just because it's a bit hard to follow in places and I'm not crazy about the structure of the chapters. But the art is really good and it's a surprisingly complete account of wresting history, so I'll give it the extra half.
pmg1980's review
3.0
I thought the first six chapters of this book were excellent. Then, Sitterson applied lip balm and puckered up to Vince Mcmahon like William Regal. Unlike Regal, Sitterson didn't stop at one peck.
sizrobe's review
3.0
I have zero interest in actually watching wrestling, but I saw this in the new shelf of the graphic novel section at the library and decided to check it out on a whim. I was surprised at how interesting it turned out to be. The biggest surprise, I think, is that professional wrestling as we know it been fake all the way back to its origins as a sideshow feature of travelling carnivals in the late 19th century.
Unfortunately, while it pretty exhaustively spans the whole modern era of wrestling in not just America, but also Japan, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, it doesn't go much earlier than the 1880's. As far as I know, wrestling has existed, for example, in ancient Greece hundreds of years BC. Also, the author had a tendency to just namedrop wrestler after wrestler, most of which I'd never heard of. I got tired of reading lists of names of wrestlers without much context.
Unfortunately, while it pretty exhaustively spans the whole modern era of wrestling in not just America, but also Japan, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, it doesn't go much earlier than the 1880's. As far as I know, wrestling has existed, for example, in ancient Greece hundreds of years BC. Also, the author had a tendency to just namedrop wrestler after wrestler, most of which I'd never heard of. I got tired of reading lists of names of wrestlers without much context.
rosewelsh's review
4.0
Sitterson is a longtime wrestling fan who is more than qualified to write about the subject. He’s well known on Twitter and has a popular podcast where he discusses wrestling from many different companies. In this book, he attempts to tackle the entire history of professional wrestling from its roots in carnival sideshows all the way to the different international styles that are becoming more popular in the United States.
I absolutely adored being able to read the story of favorite pastime in my favorite format. Sitterson tackles an insanely huge history here and for the most part I think he does a really great job. He manages to balance history with fun and inviting art, provided by Chris Moreno, and the visual aspects help immensely with understanding the text. Often when the text is discussing particular moves and its originator, Moreno’s art reflects the move itself so the reader can have a solid visual of why it’s so influential to wrestling. It also helps as so much of this book calls back onto things in previous chapters, so having that visualization makes it much easier to digest. If this were a regular nonfiction title without the art, it would be far too heavy and hard to follow, but as a graphic novel it’s much lighter and more interesting.
Another aspect of this book that I loved was the small things only wrestling fans would notice. Although Moreno’s art matches Sitterson’s text, there were times where I as a wrestling fan recognized throwbacks he included in the book. An example is when discussing the use of real life friendships as storylines, Moreno includes art of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, as well as their independent former personas, El Generico and Kevin Steen. It was something small that only a current wrestling fan would likely catch, but it was a nice wink and nod to fans.
While I think this is the perfect addition for the bookshelf of any wrestling fan, it does contain a heavy amount of history. The book description reflects this, but I would honestly recommend reading this in two sittings. I am an avid wrestling fan, as I have stated, and even I struggled with taking in all the information presented to me. I thought the book was well structured and flowed together in an understandable format, but to truly take in all the aspects of wrestling and its history is a huge undertaking for the reader. Even though I was familiar with almost everyone in the book, I still struggled to differentiate between promoters and had to refer back to previous pages a few times.
I do wish the book had gone further in depth to talk about the history of women’s wrestling. Sitterson does acknowledge women’s wrestling only coming into the forefront of popularity in recent years, but frankly with so many pages dedicated to the historically accurate yet kinda boring side stories concerning arguing males, there could have been more women’s history here. The ENTIRETY of women’s wrestling (at least in WWE) received one full page, the same as independent promotion Ring of Honor. I just felt like the balance was off a bit and the side stories about different promoters from the 40s-80s were a bit boring when compared to how many pages they comprised. I would have loved for that content to be replaced with some cool “first woman to” facts, or even more than one mention of any women’s wrestling promotions.
I think this is a fantastic book to give any wrestling fan as a gift. It’s interesting, educational and grasps a lot about what we as fans love about professional wrestling. Some parts may be sluggish, but overall it is a great look at why wrestling is incredible.
Blog / Twitter
I absolutely adored being able to read the story of favorite pastime in my favorite format. Sitterson tackles an insanely huge history here and for the most part I think he does a really great job. He manages to balance history with fun and inviting art, provided by Chris Moreno, and the visual aspects help immensely with understanding the text. Often when the text is discussing particular moves and its originator, Moreno’s art reflects the move itself so the reader can have a solid visual of why it’s so influential to wrestling. It also helps as so much of this book calls back onto things in previous chapters, so having that visualization makes it much easier to digest. If this were a regular nonfiction title without the art, it would be far too heavy and hard to follow, but as a graphic novel it’s much lighter and more interesting.
Another aspect of this book that I loved was the small things only wrestling fans would notice. Although Moreno’s art matches Sitterson’s text, there were times where I as a wrestling fan recognized throwbacks he included in the book. An example is when discussing the use of real life friendships as storylines, Moreno includes art of Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, as well as their independent former personas, El Generico and Kevin Steen. It was something small that only a current wrestling fan would likely catch, but it was a nice wink and nod to fans.
While I think this is the perfect addition for the bookshelf of any wrestling fan, it does contain a heavy amount of history. The book description reflects this, but I would honestly recommend reading this in two sittings. I am an avid wrestling fan, as I have stated, and even I struggled with taking in all the information presented to me. I thought the book was well structured and flowed together in an understandable format, but to truly take in all the aspects of wrestling and its history is a huge undertaking for the reader. Even though I was familiar with almost everyone in the book, I still struggled to differentiate between promoters and had to refer back to previous pages a few times.
I do wish the book had gone further in depth to talk about the history of women’s wrestling. Sitterson does acknowledge women’s wrestling only coming into the forefront of popularity in recent years, but frankly with so many pages dedicated to the historically accurate yet kinda boring side stories concerning arguing males, there could have been more women’s history here. The ENTIRETY of women’s wrestling (at least in WWE) received one full page, the same as independent promotion Ring of Honor. I just felt like the balance was off a bit and the side stories about different promoters from the 40s-80s were a bit boring when compared to how many pages they comprised. I would have loved for that content to be replaced with some cool “first woman to” facts, or even more than one mention of any women’s wrestling promotions.
I think this is a fantastic book to give any wrestling fan as a gift. It’s interesting, educational and grasps a lot about what we as fans love about professional wrestling. Some parts may be sluggish, but overall it is a great look at why wrestling is incredible.
Blog / Twitter
esselleayy's review
5.0
Maybe 5 stars is too generous (I have minor quibbles), but overall this was just a joy to read and the artwork is dynamic and captures the distinct looks of wrestling stars throughout history.
arthurbdd's review
4.0
With the wrestling world changing as rapidly as it is, this is already dated in some respects (it's pre-AEW, pre-Vince McMahon leaving WWE, etc.), but it's still a great overview of the field with sufficient erudition that even expert fans may well learn a thing or two from it. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/grappling-with-history/
elysareadsitall's review
4.0
I really enjoyed this graphic novel and thought the amount of information was crazy impressive. I loved the art, and I liked the organization of the book.
I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I wish it had discussed women's wrestling more instead of saying, "it's unfortunate we haven't given women's wrestling more attention, but the sad truth is that in America it has long been marginalized...," which is a direct quote from the book followed by just one page of the history of women in WWE. They definitely could have done more, especially considering there were six pages in a row dedicated to the story of Hulk Hogan, and he was mentioned on 13 other pages (more than all the women mentioned combined).
Some balance there would have been better, but all in all, it's a great read. If this team did more wrestling graphic novels, I'd definitely pick them up.
I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I wish it had discussed women's wrestling more instead of saying, "it's unfortunate we haven't given women's wrestling more attention, but the sad truth is that in America it has long been marginalized...," which is a direct quote from the book followed by just one page of the history of women in WWE. They definitely could have done more, especially considering there were six pages in a row dedicated to the story of Hulk Hogan, and he was mentioned on 13 other pages (more than all the women mentioned combined).
Some balance there would have been better, but all in all, it's a great read. If this team did more wrestling graphic novels, I'd definitely pick them up.
starklinqs's review
4.0
A really interesting book! I do wish the art wasn’t reused - if I saw a scene that was drawn a few pages earlier it took me out of the book a little bit, and I wish they had written more about the current revolution in women’s wrestling in the US (though maybe it’ll come later, I have no idea if they’re planning on doing another book in a few years). Overall very well written and a great history of wrestling.